Ofir
Yaish

Ofir Yaish is a PhD student in the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering at Ben- Gurion University of the Negev under the joint supervision of Prof. Yaron Orenstein and Dr. Nir Shlezinger.

Ofir’s research focuses on developing and applying machine-learning techniques for analyzing and interpreting vast amounts of genomic data.

In particular, he is working on computational modelling of mRNA degradation and a CRISPR gene-editing system based on high- throughput data to help prevent the disruptive unplanned editing of genomic sites. Ofir is also interested in interpretable deep learning in the field of genomics, which can contribute to our ability to interpret models and discover new findings.

Ofir grew up in Beer Sheva, which he hopes will always be his home base. What began as an enthusiastic adventure to tackle computational challenges led him to pursue a BSc and MSc – and now a PhD – in electrical and computer engineering at Ben-Gurion University. Ofir enjoys consuming daily news, especially about political and technological developments which have attracted his interest since his teenage years. As a religious, open-minded, modern orthodox person, his weekends are very quiet and spent mostly with his family. He loves the spirit of the Sabbath and being able to disconnect from the ordinary tasks of the week.